UPSET PULLS THE UPSET 1 Upset right holds off Man o War down the stretch at the 1919 Sanford Stakes 1919 SANFORD STAKES An upset is an unexpected result in a contest And there have been few more fitting examples of an upset than the 1919 Sanford Stakes That day a horse named Upset pulled off one of the biggest surprises in sports history Everybody expected an easy win for Man o War The undefeated two-year-old horse faced a good but not great field in the six-furlong race at Saratoga Race Course in New York Man o War had won all six of his races He was already being called the greatest racehorse in America even though it was still his first season And he had beaten Upset on the same track at the same distance 11 days earlier 5
But Man o War was in trouble from the start Actually trouble started even earlier the regular starter for the races was absent In the days before starting gates the horses lined up behind a mesh tape at the starting line But the replacement starter had problems settling the horses Man o War acted up so much that he was standing sideways and flat footed when the race started Every other horse took off down the track Man o War had lots of chasing to do With jockey Johnny Loftus riding his horse hard Man o War caught every horse except Upset As they closed in on the finish line Man o War was within a half-length of passing Upset Too late Upset scored the huge upset Man o War ran 21 races in his career He won 20 of them Upset was the only horse to get the best of him Man o War won 20 of 21 races in his career 6
